The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has blamed the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Department of Telecommunication for not taking decisions on crucial policy recommendations.  The regulator has said that many of the important recommendations are still pending which, if implemented, will have a significant impact on the telecommunication and broadcasting sector. 

According to the regulator, the delay in the implementation of the said recommendations make them lose their relevance. 

“Over the last few years, TRAI has sent several recommendations to DoT and MIB on important issues concerning growth of telecommunications services and broadcasting and cable services…However,  many of the  important  recommendations are still pending for decision/implementation by DoT and MIB which, if implemented, would have significant positive impact on the telecommunication and broadcasting sector,” sector TRAI. 

Given the pace of technological advancements, according to TRAI, if the decisions are not made in a timeframe, they lose their relevance, defeating the whole purpose of making the recommendations in the first place. TRAI believes that the delay in implementation also reduces the impact on the sector, moreover partial implementation of the TRAI recommendations done by the ministry also defeats their purpose. TRAI cites that the delay in implementation can often be of many years.

TRAI submitted these comments as a part of its annual report for FY21.

The regulator has pushed for real time review of the implementation status of all recommendations of TRAI at the highest level. With that objective in view, TRAI has developed a Recommendation Status Portal which can be accessed jointly by TRAI, DoT and MIB. This will be a central repository for real-time tracking of status of all the recommendations.